Questions are still swirling around how much Nicholas Cage's sudden attack of squeamishness will tone down the violence in the movie version of Mark "Wanted" Millar's superhero splatterthon Kick-Ass. But at least we know one thing now: he'll have a killer porn-stache. TheBadAndTheUgly posted some pics of Cage looking appropriately sleazy, and Millar posted a blog entry where he exulted about a particularly violent and un-fatherly scene he saw Cage shooting.

Cage plays Damon aka Big Daddy, the "redneck superhero" father of Mindy, the wannabe superhero who goes by Hit Girl. "It's like the Punisher, but with a daughter, and more extreme," explains Millar in an interview with Newsarama. And posting on his own message board, Millar talked about watching Cage, as Big Daddy, in action:

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Coincidentally, the first scene shot on the movie was the first scene I wrote on the comic (now the opening to issue six) and it's Hit-Girl in her secret identity, wearing a Hello Kitty T-shirt and a kevlar vest as her Dad pumps round after round into her chest so she knows how a bullet feels. I loved the scene in the comic, I loved the scene in the screenplay, but Nic just took it to a whole new level with his delivery, the genuinely mental glee and beautiful comic timing as we see this little kid in pink clothes and a pink hat blasted back into mud in an abandoned factory. The scene in the swing park the following day is even better, but I don't want to spoil anything. All I'll say is that nobody is going to be prepared for this movie when it opens late Summer 09.

Millar told Newsarama it's true that director Matthew Vaughn had trouble raising money because of some of the film's underage violence, like a little nine-year-old girl who goes around decapitating people. But the stories have been exaggerated a bit, and anyway it's lucky that Vaughn is wealthy and has lots of wealthy friends. Meanwhile, the film has put out a call for high-school-aged extras. If you're goth/emo kid with lots of facial piercings, or a clean-cut all-American jock type, in the Toronto area, this is your chance to be immortalized. More pics at the first link. [TheBadAndTheUgly and Millarworld and Newsarama]